E83 

.817 
U593 




My. ADAMS' DUTENCE 



GENERAL JACKSON'S CONDUCT 



Your despatches, to No. 92, inclusive, with their enclosures, have 
been received at this department. Among these enclosures are the 
several notes addressed to you by Mr. Pizarro, in relation to the 
transactions during the campaign of General Jackson against the Sem- 
inole Indians, and the banditti of Negroes combined with them, and 
particularly to his proceedings in Florida, without the boundaries of 
the United States. 

In the 4th and last of those notes of Mr. Pizarro, he has given for» 
mal notice that the king, his master, has issued orders for the suspen- 
sion of the negotiation between the United States and Spain, until 
satisfaction shall have been made by the American government to him 
for these proceedings of General Jackson, which he considers as acts 
of unequivocal hostility against him, and as outrages upon his honor 
and dignity ; the only acceptable atonement for which, is stated to 
consist in a disavowal of the acts of the American general, thus com- 
plained of....the infliction upon him of a suitable punishment for his 
supposed misconduct, and the restitution of the posts and territories 
taken by him from the Spanish authorities, with indemnity for all the 
property taken, and all damages and injuries, public or private, sus- 
tained in consequence of it. 

Within a very few days after this notification, Mr Pizarro must have 
received, with copies of the correspondence between Mr. Onis and rhis 
department, the determination which had been taken by the President, 
to restore the place of Pensacola, with the fort of Barrancas, to any 
person properly authorized, on the part of Spain, to receive them, 
and the fort of St. Marks to any Spanish force adequate to its protec- 
tion against the Indians, by whom its forcible occupation had beeR 



IN THE 



SEMINOLE WAR. 



Sir : 



Department of State, 

Washington, 28th November , 1818 



2 



threatened, for purposes of hostility against the United States. The 
orfiov commanding at the post has been directed to consider 250 men 
as such adequate force; and in case of their appearance, with proper 
authority, to deliver it up to their commander accordingly. 

Prom the last mentioned correspondence, the Spanish government 
must likewise have been satisfied that the occupation of these places 
in Spanish Florida, by the commander of the American forces, was not 
by virtue of any order received by him from this government to that 
etfV ct, nor with any view of wresting the province from the possession 
of Spain, nor in any spirit of hostility to the Spanish government; 
that it arose from incidents which occurred in the prosecution of the 
war against the Indians ...from the imminent danger in which the fort 
of St. Marks was of being seized by the Indians themselves, and from 
the manifestations of hostility to the United States by the comman- 
dant of St. Marks and the governor of Peusacoia, the proofs of which 
were made known to General Jackson, and impelled him, from the ne- 
cessity of self-defence, to the steps of which the Spanish government 
complains. 

It might be sufficient to leave the vindication of these measures upon 
those grounds, and to furnish in the enclosed copies of General Jack- 
sou's letters, and the vouchers by which they are supported, the evi- 
dence of that hostile spirit on the part of the Spanish commanders, but 
for the terms in which Mr. Pizarro speaks of the execution of two sub- 
jects of Great Britain, taken, one at the fort of St. Marks, and the 
other at Suwahnee, and the intimation that these transactions may lead 
to a change in the relations between the two nations, which is doubt- 
less intended to be understood as a menace of w ar. 

It may be, therefore, proper to remind the Government of his Cath- 
olic Majesty of the incidents in which this Seminoie war originated, 
as well as of the circumstances connected with it, in the relations be- 
tween Spain and her ally, whom she supposes to have been injured by 
the proceedings of General Jackson, and to give to the Spanish cabinet 
some precise information of the nature of the business, peculiarly in- 
teresting to Spain, in which these subjects of her allies, in whose favor 
she takes this interest, were engaged, when their projects of every 
kind were terminated, in consequence of their failing into the hands 
of General Jackson. 

In the month of August, 1814, while a war existed betw een the 
United States and Great Britain, to which Spain had formerly declared 
herself neutral, a British force, not in the fresh pursuit of a defeated 
and flying enemy. ...not overstepping an imaginary and equivocal boun- 
dary between their own territories and those belonging, in some sort, 
as much to their enemy as to Spain, but approaching by sea, and by a 
broad and open invasion of a Spanish province, at a thousand miles, 
or an ocean's distance from any British territory, landed in Florida, 
took possession of Pensacola and the fort of Barrancas, and invited, by 
public proclamations, all the runaway Negroes. ...all the savage Indians 
....all the pirates, and all the traitors to their country, whom they 
knew or imagined to exist within reach of their summons, to join their 
standard, and wage an exterminating war against the portion of the 
United States immediately bordering upon this neutral, and thus vio- 



3 



l^ted 'territory of Spain. The land commander of this British force* 
wa a certain Col. Nicholls. vvho, driven from Pensacolaby the appioach 
of Gen. Jackson, actually left, to be blown up, the Spanish fort of Bar- 
rancas, when he found it could not afford him protection, and, evacu- 
ating that part of the province, landed at another, established himself 
on the Appalachicola river, and there erected a fort, from which to 
sally forth v, ith his motley tribe of black, white, and red combatants, 
against the defenceless borders of the United states, in that vicinity. 
A part of this force consisted of a corps of Colonial Marines, levied in 
the British colonies, in which George Woodbine was a Captain, [n....2» 
and Robert Chrystie Ambrister was a Lieutenant. 

As between the United States and Great Britain, we should be [LIX, 
willing to bury this transaction in the same grave of oblivion [LX. 
with other transactions of that w ar, had the hostilities of Col. Nicholls 
terminated with the war. But he did not consider the peace which 
ensued between the United States and Great Britain, as having put 
an end either to his military occupations, or to his negotiations with 
the Indians, against the United States. Several months after the rati- 
fication 'of the treaty of Ghent, he retained his post and his party-co- 
lored forces, in military array. 

By the 9th article of that treaty, the United States had [H....& 
stipulated to put an end, immediately after its ratification, to hostili- 
ties with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom they might be 
at war at the time of the ratification, and to restore to them all the 
possessions which they had enjoyed in the year 1811. This article 
lias no application to the Creek nation, with whom the United States 
had already made peace, by a treaty concluded on the 9th day of Au- 
gust, 1314, more than four months before the treaty of Ghent was 
signed. Yet Col. Nicholls not only affected to consider it as applying 
to the Seminoles of Florida, and the outlawed Red Sticks whom he 
had induced to join him there, but actually persuaded them that they 
were entitled, by viitue of the treaty of Ghent, to all the lands which 
had belonged to the Creek nation, within the United States, in the 
year 1811, and that the government of Great Britain [n....i. III. 
would support them in that pretension. He asserted also this doc- 
trine in a correspondence with Col. Hawkins, then the agent of the 
United States with the Creeks, and gave him notice, in their name, 
with a mockery of solemnity, that they had concluded a treaty of alli- 
ance, offensive and defensive, and a treaty of navigation and commerce 
with Great Britain, of which more was to be heard after it should [IX. 
be ratified in England. Col. Nicholls then evacuated his fort, which, 
in some of the enclosed papers, is called the fort at Prospect Bluff, 
but which he had denominated the British post, on the Appalachicola; 
took with him the white portion of his force, and embarked for Eng- 
land, with several of the wretched savages whom he was thus deluding 
to their fate. ...among whom was the Pi ophet Francis, or Hillis Hadjo.... 
and left the fort amply supplied with military stores and ammu- [IV. V. 
nition, to the Negro department of his allies. It afterwards w r as 
known by the name of Negro fort. Col. Hawkins immediately com- 
municated to this government the correspondence between him and 
Nicholls, here referred to, (copies of which, marked No. 1 to 5, are 



herewith enclosed,) upon which Mr. Monroe, then Secretary of State,, 
addressed a letter (copy marked G.) to Mr. Baker, the British Charge 
d' Affaires at Washington, complaining of Nicholls' conduct, and shew- 
ing that his pretence that the 9th article of the Treaty of Ghent could 
XL] have any application to his Indians, was utterly destitute of foun- 
dation. Copies of the same correspondence were transmitted to the 
Minister of the United States, then in England, with instructions to 
remonstrate with the British government against these proceedings of 
Niciolis, and to shew how incompatible they were with the peace which 
XIL a. b.] had been concluded between the two nations. These re- 
XIll a. b.] monstrances were accordingly made, first in personal in- 
terview with Earl Bathurst and Lord Castlereagh, and afterwards in 
written notes, addressed successively to them, (copies of which, to- 
gether with extracts from the despatches of the American Minister to 
the Secretary of State, reporting what passed at those interviews, are 
enclosed.) Lord Bathurst, in the most unequivocal manner, confirm- 
ed the facts, and disavowed the misconduct of Nicholls; declared his 
disapprobation of the pretended treaty of alliance, offensive and defen- 
sive, which he had made ; assured the American Minister that the 
British Government had refused to ratify that treaty, and would send 
back the Indians whom Nicholls had brought with him, with advice to 
mike their peace on such terms as they could obtain. Lord Castle- 
reigh confirmed the assurance that the treaty would not be ratified ; 
and if, at the same time that these assurances were given, certain dis- 
tinctions of public notoriety were shown to the Prophet Hillis Hadjo. 
and he was actually honored with a commission, as a Biitish officer, 
it is to be presumed that these favors were granted him as rewards of 
past services, and not as encouragement to expect any support from 
Great Britain in a continuance of savage hostilities against the United 
States, all intention of giving any such support having been repeatedly 
and earnestly disavowed. 

The Negro fort, however, abandoned by Col. Nicholls, remained on 
the Spanish territory, occupied by the banditti to whom he had left it, 
and held by them as a post, from whence to commit depredations, 

XIV. ] outrages, and murders, and as a receptacle for fugitive slaves 
and malefactors, to the great annoyance both of the United States 
and of Spanish Florida. In April, 1816, Gen. Jackson wrote a letter to 
the Governor of Pensacola, calling upon him to put down this common 

XV. ] nuisance to the inhabitants of both countries. That lette-, to- 
gether with the answer of the Governor of Pensacola, have already 
been communicated to the Spanish Minister here, and by him, doubt- 
less, to his government. Copies of them are, nevertheless, now again 
XXIIL] enclosed ; particularly as the letter from the Governor expli- 
citly admits, that this fort, constructed by Nicholls, in violation both 
of the territory and neutrality of Spain, was still no less obnoxious to 
his goverment than to the United States ; but, that he had neither suffi- 
cient force, nor an authority, without orders from the Govenor General 
of the Havana, to destroy it. It was afterwards, on the 27th July, 1816, 
destroyed by a cannon shot from a gun vessel of the United States, 
which, in its passage up the river, 'was fired upon by it. It was blown 
np, with an English flag still flying as its standard, and immediately 



5 



after the barbarous murder of a boat's crew, belonging to the Navy of 
the United States, by the bandit*': left in it h> NichoUsJ 

In the year 1817, Alexander Arbuthnot, of the Island of New Provi- 
dence, a British subject, first appeared, as an Indian trader, in Span- 
ish Florida, and as the successor of Tol. Nicholis, in the employment 
of instigating the Seminole and outlawed Red Stick Indians to hostili- 
ties agaiiist the United States, by reviving the pretence that they were 
entitled to ail the lands which had been ceded by the Creek nation to 
the United States, in \ugust, 1814. As a mere" Indian trader, the in- 
trusion of this man, into a Spanish province, was contrary to the policy 
observed by all the European powers in this hemisphere, and by none 
more rigorously than by Spain, of excluding all foreigrers fiom inter- 
course with the Indians, within their territories. It must be known to 
the Spanish government, whether A buthnot had a Spanish license for 
trailing with the Indians in Spanish Florida or not: but they also know 
that Spain was bound by treaty, to restrain by force ail hostilities on 
the part of those Indians, against the citizens of the United States; 
and it is for them to explain how- consistently with those engagements, 
Spain could, contrary to ail the maxims of her ordinary policy, grant 
such a license to a foreign incendiary, whose principles, if not his only 
object, appears to have been to stimulate those hostilities which Spain 
had so expressly stipulated by force to restrain. In his infer- [XLIX, 
nal instigation he was but too successful. No sooner did he make his 
appearance among the Indians, accompanied by the P; ophet Hillis [li. 
Hadjo, returned from his expedition to England, than the peaceful 
inhabitants on the borders of the United States, were visited with all 
the horrors of savage war, the robbery of their property, and the bar- 
barous and indiscriminate murder of w omen, infancy and age. 

After the repeated expostulations, warnings, and offers of a peace, 
through the summer and autumn of 1817, on the part of the United 
States, had been answered only by renewed outrages, and after [LI. a, 
a detachment of forty men, under Lieut. Scott, accompanied [LXI. 
by seven women, had been waylaid and murdered by the Indians, or- 
ders were given to Genera! Jackson, and an adequate force v. as placed 
at his disposal, to terminate the war. It was ascertained that the 
Spanish force in Florida was inadequate for the protection even of the 
Spanish territory itself against this mingled horde of lawless Indians 
and Negroes; and, although their devastations were committed with- 
in the United States, they immediately sought refuge within the Flor- 
ida line, and there only were to be overtaken. The necessity of cross- 
ing the line was indispensable ; for it was from beyond the line that 
the Indians made their murderous incursions within that of the United 
States. It was there that they had their abode, and the territory be- 
longed, in fact, to them, although within the borders of the Spanish 
jurisdiction. There it was that the American commander met the 
principal resistance from them: there it was, that were [XXXVIII. 
found the still bleeding scalps of our citizens, freshly butchered by 
them ; there it was that he released the only woman who had been suf- 
fered to survive the massacre of the party under Lieut. Scott. But 
it was not anticipated by this government that the commanding officers 
of Spain, in Florida, whose especial duty it was, in conformity to the 



6 



solemn engagements contracted by their nation, to restrain by force, 
those Indians from hostilities against the United States, would be found 
encouraging, aiding, and abetting them, and furnishing them with 
supplies for carrying on such hostilities. The officer in command, 
immediately before General Jackson, was, therefore, specially instruct- 
ed to respect, as far as possible, the Spanish authority wherever it was 
maintained, and copies of those- orders were also furnished to General 
Jackson upon his taking the command. In the course of his pursuit, 
as he approached St. Marks, he was informed, direct from the Govern- 
or of Pensacola, that a party of the hostile Indians had threatened to 
seize that fort, and that he apprehended the Spa?iish garrison there 
was not in strength sufficient to defend it Against them. This infor- 
mation was confirmed from other sources; and by the evidence produ- 
ced upon the trial of Ambrister, it proved to have been exactly true. 
By all the laws of neutrality and of war, as well as of prudence and 
humanity, he was warranted in anticipating his enemy, by the amica- 
ble, and that being refused, by the forcible occupation of the fort. 
There will be no need of citations from printed treatises on interna- 
tional law, to prove the correctness of this principle. It is engraved 
in adamant on the common sense of mankind ; no writer upon the laws 
of nations ever pretended to contradict it ; none of any reputation or 
authority ever omitted to assert it. 

XXXIV.] At fort St. Marks, Alexander Arbuthnot, the British 
Indian trader from beyond the seas, the firebrand, by whose, torch this 
Negro Indian war against our borders had been rekindled, was found 
an inmate of the commandant's family; and it was also found that, by 
the commandant himself, councils of war had been permitted to be held 
within it by the savage chiefs and warriors; that the Spanish store- 
houses had been appropriated to their use, that it was an open market 
for cattle, known to have been robbed by them from citizens of the 
United States, and which had been contracted for, and purchased by 
the officers of the garrison. That information had been 'afforded, from 
this fort by Arbuthnot, to the enemy, of the strength and movements of 
the American army; that the date of the departure of express had been 
noted by the Spanish commissary, and ammunition, munitions of war, 
and all necessary supplies furnished to the Indians. 

The conduct of the Governor of Pensacola was not less marked by 
a disposition of enmity to the United States and by an utter disregard 
to the obligations of the treaty, by which he was bound to restrain, by 
force, the Indians from hostilities against them. When called upon 
to vindicate the territorial rights and authority of Spain, by the de- 
struction of the Negro fort, his predecessor had declared it to be not 
less annoying and pernicious to the Spanish subjects in Florida, than 
to the United States; but had pleaded his inability to subdue it. He, 
himself, had expressed his apprehensions that Fort St. Marks would 
be forcibly taken by the savages, from its Spanish garrison : yet, at the 
same time, he had refused the passage up the Escambia river, unless 
upon the payment of excessive duties, to provisions destined as sup- 
plies for the American army, which, by the detention of them, was' 
subjected to the most distressing privations. He had permitted free 
ingress and egress at Pensacola to the avowed savage enemies of the 



7 



United States. Supplies of ammunition, munitions of war, and pro- 
visions had been received bj them from thence. They had been re- 
ceived and sheltered there, from the pursuit of the American forces, 
and suffered again to sally thence, to enter upon the American territo- 
ry and commit new murders. Finally, on the approach of General 
Jackson to Pensacola, the Governor sent him a letter, de- [XXXlfl, 
Bouncing his entry upon the territory of Florida, as a violent outrage 
upon tlie rights of Spain, commanding him to depart and withdraw 
from the same, and threatening in case of his non-compliance, to em- 
ploy force to expel him. 

It became, therefore, in the opinion of General Jackson, indispensa- 
bly necessary to take from the Governor of Pensacola the means [Liv. 
of carrying his threat into execution. Before the forces under his 
command, the savage enemies of his country had disappeared. But 
he knew that the moment those forces should be disbanded, if shel- 
tered by Spanish fortresses, if furnished with ammunition and supplies 
by Spanish officers, and if aided and supported by the instigation of 
Spanish encouragement, as he had every reason to expect these would 
be, they would re-appear : and fired, in addition to their ordinary fe- 
rociousness, with revenge lor the chastisement they had so recently 
received, would again rush with the war hatchet and scalping knife, 
into the borders of the United states, and mark every foot-step with 
the blood of their defenceless citizens. So far as all the native resour- 
ces of the savages extended, the war was at an enci, and General 
Jackson was about to restore to their families and their homes, the 
brave volunteers who had followed his standard, and who had consti- 
tuted the principal part of his force. This could he done with safetv, 
leaving the regular portion of his troops to garrison his line of forts, 
and two small detachments of volunteer cavalry, to scour the country 
round Pensacola, and sweep off the lurking remnant of savages who 
had been scattered and dispersed before him. This was sufficient to 
keep in check the remnant of the banditti, against whom he had march- 
ed, so long as they should be destitute of other aid and support. It 
was, in his judgment, not sufficient, if they should be suffered to rally 
their numbers under the protection of Spanish forts, and to derive new 
strength from the importance or the ill will against the United States 
of the Spanish authorities. 

He took possession, therefore, of Pensacola, and of the fort of Bar- 
rancas, as lie had done at St. Marks, not in spirit of hostility to Spain, 
but as a necessary measure of self defence ; giving notice that they 
should be restored whenever Spain should place commanders and a 
force there, able and willing to fulfil the engagements of Spain towards 
the United States, of restraining, by force, the Florida Indians from 
hostilities against their citizens. 

The President of the United States, to give a signal manifestation 
of his confidence in the disposition of the King of Spain, to perform 
with good faith this indispensable engagement, and to demonstrate to 
the world, that neither the desire of conquest, nor hostility to Spain, 
had any influence in the councils of the United States, has directed 
the unconditional restoration to any Spanish officer, duly authorized 
to receive them, of Pensacola and the Barrancas, and that of St. Marks 



8 



to any Spanish force adequate for its defence against the attack of the 
savages. But the President will neither inflict punishment, nor pass a 
censure upon General Jackson for that conduct, the motives for which 
were founded in the purest patriotism, of the necessity for which he 
had the most immediate and effectual means of forming a judgment, 
and the vindication of which is written in every page of the law of na- 
tions, as well as in the first law of nature. ...self-defence. He thinks it, 
on the contrary, due to the justice which the United States have a 
right to claim from Spain, and you are accordingly instructed to de- 
mand of the Spanish government, that inquiry shall be instituted into 
the conduct of Don Jose Masot, Governor of Pensacola, and of Don 
Francisco C. Luengo, commandant of St. Marks, and a suitable pun- 
ishment inflicted upon them for having, in defiance and violation of the 
engagement of Spain with the United States, aided and assisted these 
hordes of savages, in those very hostilities against the United States, 
which it was their official duty to restrain. This inquiry is due to 
the character of those officers themselves, and to the honor of the 
Spanish government. The obligation of Spain to restrain, by force, 
the Indians of Florida from hostilities against the United States and 
their citizens, is explicit, is positive, is unqualified. The fact, that for 
a series of years they have received shelter, assistance, supplies 
and protection, in the practice of such hostilities from the Spanish 
XXXII] commanders in Florida, is clear and unequivocal. If, as the 
XLII.] commanders, both at Pensacola and St. Marks have alleged, this 
has been the result of their weakness, rather than their will, if they have 
assisted the Indians against the United States to avert their hostilities 
from the province, which they had not sufficient force to defend against 
them, it may serve, in some measure, to exculpate, individually, those 
officers, but it must carry demonstration irresistible to the Spanish 
government, that the right ot the United States can as little compound 
with impotence as with perfidy, and that Spain must immediately make 
her election, either to place a force in Florida, adequate to the pro- 
tection of her territory, and to the fulfilment of her engagement, or 
cede to the United States a province, of which she retains nothing but 
the nominal possession; but which is, in fact, a derelict open to the oc- 
cupancy of every enemy, civilized or savage, of the United States, and 
serving no other earthly purpose than as a post of annoyance to them. 

That the purposes, as well of the Negro Indian banditti, with whom 
we have been contending, as of the British invaders of Florida, who 
first assembled and employed them, and of the British intruding and 
pretending traders, since the peace, who have instigated and betrayed 
them to destruction, have been not less hostile to Spain than to the 
United States, the proofs contained in the documents herewith enclo- 
sed, are conclusive. Mr. Pizarro's note, of the 29th August, speaks 
of his Catholic Majesty's profound indignation at the k< sanguinary ex- 
ecutions on the Spanish soil, of the subjects of powers in amity "with 
the King"... .meaning Arbuthnot and Ambrister. Let Mr. Pizarro's 
successor take the trouble of reading the enclosed documents, and he 
will discover who Arbuthnot and Ambrister were, and what were their 
purposes : That Arbuthnot was only the successor of Nicholls, and 
Ambrister the agent of Woodbine, and the subaltern of M'Gregor. 



9 



Mr. Pizarro qualifies General Jackson's necessary pursuits of a savage 
enemy beyond the Spanish Florida line, as a shameful invasion of his 
Majesty's territory. ...yet, that territory was the territory also of the 
savage enemy, and Spain was bound to restrain them, by force, from 
hostilities against the United States. ..and it was the failure of Spain 
to fulfil this engagement, which had made it necessary for General 
Jackson to pursue the savag;es across the line. What, then, was the 
character of Nicholls' invasion of his Majesty's territory; and where 
was his Majesty's profound indignation at that? Mr. Pizarro says, his 
Majesty's places and forts have been violently seized on by General 
Jackson. Had they not been seized on. ...nay, had not the principal of 
his forts been blown up by Nicholls, and a British fort on the same 
Spanish territory been erected during the war. and left standing as a 
Negro fort in defiance of Spanish authority, after the peace ? W here 
was his Majesty's profound indignation at that? Has his Majesty 
suspended formally all negotiation with the sovereign of Col. Nicholls, 
for the shameful invasion of his territory without color of provocation, 
without pretence of necessity, without the shadow or even avow a! of a 
pretext? Has his Majesty given solemn warning to the British go- 
vernment, that these were incidents "of transcendant moment, capa- 
ble of producing an essential and thorough change in the political re- 
lations of the two countries?" Nicholls and Woodbine, in their invi- 
tations and promises to the slaves to runaway from their masters and 
join them, did not confine themselves to the slaves of the United 
States... .they received with as hearty a welcome, and employed with 
equal readiness, the fugitives from their masters in Florida, as [XXV. 
tho&e from Georgia. Against this special injury the Governor of 
Pensacola did earnestly remonstrate with the British admiral Cock- 
burn, but against the shameful invasion of the territory. ...against the 
violent seizure of the forts and places... against the blowing up of the 
Barrancas, and the erection and maintenance under British banners, 
of the Negro fort on Spanish soil. ...against the negotiation by a British 
officer in the midst of peace of pretended treaties, offensive and de- 
fensive, and of navigation and commerce, upon Spanish territory, be- 
tween Great Britain and Spanish Indians, whom Spain was bound to 
control and restrain. ...if a whisper of expostulation was ever wafted 
from Madrid to London, it was not loud enough to be heard across the 
Atlantic, nor energetic enough to transpire beyond the walls of the 
palaces from which it issued, and to which it was borne. 

The connexion between Arbuthnot and Nicholls. and between Am- 
brister and M'Gregor, is established beyond all question, by the evi- 
dence produced at the trials before the court martial. I have already 
remarked to you on the very extraordinary circumstance, that a British 
trader from beyond the seas, should be permitted by the Spanish author- 
ities, to trade with the Indians of Florida. From his letter to Hambiy, 
dated 3d March, 1817, it appears that his trading was but a pretence, 
and that his principal purpose was to act as the agent of the Indians in 
Florida, and outlaws from the Creeks, to obtain the aid of the British 
Government in their hostilities against the United States. He express- 
ly tells Hambiy there, that the chief of those outlaws was the principal 
cause of his. Arbuthnot's, being in the country; and that he had come 



with an answer from Earl Bathurst, delivered to him by Gov. Cameron, of 
New Providence, to certain Indian talks, in which this aid of the British 
Government had be^n left by Nichoils, as the agent between the In- 
dians and the British Government; but having; found that Nichoils had 
failed in his attempt to prevail upon the British Government to pursue 
this clandestine war, in the midst of peace, and that they were not 
prepared to support his pretence, that half a dozen outlawed fugitives 
from the Creeks were the Creek nation; when Arbuthnot, the incendi- 
ary, came, and was instigating them, by promises of support from Great 
XI. VII. b. | Britain, to commence their murderous incursions into the 
United States, Hambly, at the request of the Creeks themselves, w rote 
to him to withdraw from among that band of outlaws, and giving him 
solemn forboding of the doom that awaited him, from the hand of jus- 
tice, if he persevered i; the course that he pursued. Arbuthnot. ne- 
vertheless, persisted ; and while he was deluding the wretched Indians 
XLIX.] with promises of support from England, he was writing letters 
b. for them to the minister in the United States, to Governor 
g. Cameron, of New Providence, to Col. Nieholis, to be iaid 

d. before the British government, and even to the Spanish go- 

e. vernor at St Augustine, and the Governor-general of the 

f. Havana, soliciting, in all quarters, aid and support, arms and 
ammunition for the Indians, against the United States; bewailing the 
the destruction of the Negro fort, and charging the British government 
with having drawn the Indians into war with the United States, and 
deserting them after the peace. 

You will remark among the papers produced on his trial, a power of 
XLIX. INTe. l.] attorney, dated 17th June. 1817, given him by twelve 
Indians, partly of Florida and partly of the fugitive outlaws from the 
United States. He states that this power, and his instructions, were 
to memorialize the British government, and the Governor-general of 
the Havana. These papers are not only substantially proved as of 
[Compare XLIX. a. his hand writing, on the trial, but in the daily 

and XLIX. b.] newspapers of London of the 24th and 25th of Au- 
XLVII. c] gust last, his letter to Nichoils is published, (some- 

[Compare XLVII. c. what garbled) w ith a copy of Hambly's above men- 
and XLIX. No. l.] tioned letter to him, approved by the Commandant of 
LVIL] St. Mavks, F. C. Luengo. Another of the papers is 

a letter, written in the name of the same chiefs, by Arbuthnot, to the 
Governor-general of the Havana, asking ot him permission for Arbuth- 
not to establish a ware-house on the Appalachicola, bitterly and falsely 
complaining that the Americans had made settlements on their lands, 
within the Spanish lines, and calling upon the Governor General to give 
orders to displace them, and send them back to their country. In this 
letter they assign, as a reason for asking this license for Arbuthnot, the 
want of a person to put in writing for them their talks of greivances 
against the Americans. And, they add, " the commander of the fort 
of St. Marks has heard all of our talks and complaints. He approves 
of what w r e have done and what we are doing; and it is by his recom- 
mendation we have thus presumed to address your excellency." You 
will find these papers in the printed news-papers enclosed, and in the 
proceedings of the court martial, and will point them out to the Span- 



11 



isli government, not only as decisive proofs of the unexampled com- 
pliances of the Spanish officers in Florida, to foreign intrusive iigents 
and instigators of Indian hostilities against the United States, but as 
placing beyond a doubt, that participation of this hostile spirit in the 
commandant of St. Marks, which General Jackson so justly complains 
of, and of which we have so well founded a right to demand the pun- 
ishment. Mere is the Commandant of a Spanish fort, bound by a sa- 
cred engagement of a treaty to restrain, by force, the Indians within 
his command from committing hostilities against the United States, 
conspiring with those same Indians, and deliberately giving his written 
approbation to their appointment of a foreigner, a British subject, as 
their ajjpentj to solicit assistance and supplies from the Governor Gene- 
ral of Havana, and from the British government, for carrying on these 
same hostilities. 

Let us come to the case of Ambrister. ..He was taken in arms; lead- 
ing and commanding the Indians, in the war against the American 
troops ; and to that charge, upon his trial, pleading guilty. But the 
primary object of his coming there, was still more hostile to [LVIII. 
Spain, than to the United States. You find that he told three of the 
witnesses, who testified at his trial, that he had come to this country 
upon Mr. Woodbine's business at Tampa Bay... .to see the Negroes 
righted ; and one of them that he had a commission in the patriot army 
under McGregor $ and that he had expected a captaincy. And what 
Was the intended business of McGregor and Woodbine at Tampa Bay? 
It was the conquest of Florida from Spain, by the use of those very 
Indians and Negroes, whom the commandant of St. Marks was so ready 
to aid and support in the war against the United States. The chain 
of proof that establishes this fact, is contained in the documents com- 
municated by the President to Congress at their last session, re- [LVX. 
lating to the occupation of the Amelia Island by M'Gregor. From 
these documents you will find, that while M'Gregor was there, Wood- 
bine went from New r Providence, in a schooner of his own to join him: 
That he arrived at Amelia Island just as McGregor, abandoned bj the 
companions of his achievement there, was leaving it : That M'Gregor 
quitted the vessel in which he had embarked at Amelia, went on board 
that of Woodbine, and returned with him to New Providence : That 
Woodbine had persuaded him they could yet accomplish the conquest 
of Florida, with soldiers to be recruited at Nassau, from the corps of 
colonial marines, which had served under Nicholls, during the late 
war with the United States,' which corps had been lately disbanded; 
and with Negroes to be found at Tampa Bay, and 1500 Indians, alrea- 
dy then engaged to Woodbine, who pretended that they [LYIL a, b. 
had made a grant of all their lands there to him. 

Among the papers, the originals of which are in our possession, in 
McGregors' own hand writing, instructions for sailing into Tampa Bay, 
with the assertion that he calculated to be there by the last of April rd. 
or first of May, of the present year; a letter dated 27th December last, 
to one of his acquaintance in this country, disclosing the same in- re. 
tenrion ; and the extract of a proclamation which was to have been is- 
sued at Tampa Bay, to the inhabitants of Florida, by the person char- 
ged with making the settlement there, before his arrival, announcing 



12 



his approach, for the purpose of liberating them from the despotism of 

Spsin, and of enabling them to form a government for themselves. 
He has persuaded those who would listen to him here, that his ultimate 
object was to sell the Floridas to the United States. There is some 
reason to suppose that he had made indirect overture, of a similar na- 
ture, to the British government. This was Ambrister's business in 
Florida. He arrived there in March, the precursor of McGregor and 
XLIX.] Woodbine, and, immediately upon his arrival, he is found 
seizing upon Arbuthnot's goods, and distributing them among the Ne- 
groes and Indians; seizing upon his vessel, and compelling its master 
to pilot him, with a body of armed Negroes, towards the fort' of St. 
Marks, with the declared purpose of taking it by surprize, in the night. 
Writing letters to Governor Cameron, ot New Providence, urgently 
calling for supplies of munitions of war, and of cannon for the war a- 
gainst the Americans; and letters to Col. Nicholis, renewing the same 
demands of supplies, informing him, that he is with 300 Negroes, * 4 a 
few of our Bluff people," who had stuck to the cause, and were rel ying 
upon the faith of Nicholis' promises. Our Bluff people were the peo- 
ple of the Negro fort, collected by Nicholis' and Woodbine's proclama- 
tions, during the American and English war, and the cause to which 
they stuck was the savage, servile, exterminating war against the 
United States. 

Among the agents and actors of such virtuous enterprizes as are 
here unveiled, it was hardly expected that there would be found re- 
markable evidences of their respect, confidence and good faith towards 
one another. Accordingly, besides the violent seizure and distribution 
by Ambrister. of Arbuthnot's property, his letters to Governor Came- 
ron and to Nicholis are filled with the distrust and suspicions of the 
Indians, that they were deceived and betrayed by Arbuthnot; while in 
XLIX. f.] Arbuthnot's letters to the same Nicholis, he accused Wood- 
bine of having taken charge of poor Francis the prophet, or iiiilis 
Hadjo, upon his return from England to New Providence, and under 
pretence of taking care of him and his affairs. ...of having defrauded 
him of a large portion of the presents which had been delivered out 
from the King's stores + o him, for Francis' use. This is one i>f the 
XLVII. a.] passages of Arbuthnot's letter to Nicholis, omitted in the 
publication of it last August, in the London newspapers. 

Is this narrative of dark and complicated depravity, this creeping 
and insidious war, both against Spain and the United States, this mock- 
ery of patriotism, these political philters to fugitive slaves and Indian 
outlaws; these perfidities and treacheries of villains incapable of keep- 
ing their faith even to each other, all in the name of South American 
Liberty, of the rights of runaway negroes, and the wrongs of savage 
murderers. ..all combined and projected to plunder Spain of her pro- 
vinces, and to spread massacre and devastation along the borders of the 
United States ? Is all this sufficient to cool the sympathies of his 
Catholic Majesty's government, excited by the execution of these two 
« subjects of a power in amity with the king!" The Spanish govern- 
ment is not this day to be informed that, cruel as war in its mildest 
forms, must be, it is, and necessarily must be doubly cruel, when waged 
with savages : that savages make no prisoners, but to torture them; that 



13 



they give no quarter; that they put to death without discrimination of 
age or sex ; that these ordinary characteristics of Indian warfare have 
been applicable, in their most heart sickening horrors, to that war, left 
us by Njcholls, as his legacy, reinstigated by Woodbine, Arbuthnot and 
Atnbrister, and stimulated by the approbation, encouragement, and the 
aid of the Spanish commandant at St. Marks. Is proof required ? In- 
treat the Spanish Minister ot State, for a moment, to overcome the 
feelings which details like these must excite, and to reflect, if possible 
With composure, upon the facts stated in the following extracts from 
documents enclosed. 

Letter from sailing master Jairus Loomis to commodore Daniel T. 
Patterson, 13th August, 1816, reporting the destruction of |XXIII. 
the Negro fort. 

On examining the prisoners, they stated that Edward Daniels, 0. S. 
who was made prisoner in the boat, on the 17th July, " was tarred and 
buried alive." 

Letter from Archibald Clarke to Gen. Gaines, 26th February, 1817, 
(iMessage of the President of the United States to Congress, 25th 
March, 1817, p. 9.) 

4 4 On the 24th inst. the house of Mr. Garret, residing in the upper 
part of this county, near the boundary of Wayne county, (Georgia,) 
was attacked, during his absence, near the middle of the day, by this 
party, (of Indians,.) consisting of about fifteen, who shot Mrs. Garret in 
two places, and then despatched her by stabbing and scalping. Her 
two children, one about three years, and the other two months old. 
were also murdered, and the eldest scalped ; the house was then plun- 
dered of every article ot value, and set on fire." 

Letter 'from Peter B. Cook, (Arbuthnot's clerk,) to Eliza A.. [LXL 
Carney, at Nassau,, dated Suwahnee, 15th January, 1818, giving an 
account of their operations with the Indi-.ns against the Americans, and 
their massacre of Lieut. Scott and his party. 

44 There was a boat that was taken by tlie Indians, that had in it 
thirty men, seven women, and four small children. There were six of 
the men got clear, and one of the women saved, and all the rest of them 
got killed. The children were took by the leg, and their brains dashed 
out against the boat " 

If the bare recital of scenes like these cannot be perused without 
shuddering, what must be the agonized feelings of those whose wives 
and children are, from day to day, and from night to night, exposed to 
be the victims of the same barbarity ! Has mercy a voice to plead for 
the perpetrators and instigators of deeds like these ? Should inquiry 
hereafter be made, why, within three months after this event, the savage 
Hamathli Micco, upon being taken by the American troops, was, by 
order of their commander immediately hung, let it be told that that 
savage was the commander of the party by which those women were 
butchered, and those helpless infants were thus dashed against the 
boat. Contending with such enemies, although humanity revolts at 
entire retaliation upon them, and spares the lives of their feeble and 
defenceless women and children, yet mercy herself surrenders to re- 
tributive justice the li ves of their leading warriors taken in arms... .and 
still more the lives of tiie foreign, white incendiaries; who, disowned 



14 



by their own governments, and disowning their own natures, degrade li 

themselves beneath the savage character by voluntarily descending to c 

its level. Is not this the dictate of common sense ? Is it not the usaije c 

of legitimate warfare ? Is it not consonant to the soundest authorities a 

of national war? "When at war, (says Vattel.) with a ferocious na- d 

tion, which observes no rule and grants no quarter, they may be chasti- j 

sed in the persons of those of them who may be taken; they are of the ti 

number of the guilty; and by this rigor the attempt may be made of o 

bringing them to a sense of the laws of humanity." And again: " As tl 

a General has the right of sacrificing the lives of his enemies to his own v 

safety or that of his people, if he has to contend with an inhuman ene- ci 

my, often guilty of such excesses, he may take the lives of some of his p 

prisoners, and treat them as his own people have been treated." The a 

justification of these principles is found in their salutary efficiency, for k 

terror and for example. It is thus only that the barbarities of Indians a: 

can be successfully encountered. It is thus only that the worse than ol 

Indian barbarities of European irnposters, pretending authority from al 

their governments, but always disavowed, can be punished and arrest- iij 

ed. Great Britain yet engages the alliance and co-operation of sava- b< 

ges in war. But her government has invariably disclaimed all counte- fe 

nance or authorization to her subjects to instigate them against us in t; 

time of peace. Yet so it has happened, that from the period of our es- t\ 
tabiished independence to this day, all the Indian wars with which we 

have been afflicted, have been distinctly traceable to the instigation of P 

English traders or agents, always disavowed, yet always felt, more h t 

than once detected, but never before punished. Two of them, offenders (] ( 

of the deepest dye, after solemn warning to their government, and in- til 
dividually to one of them, have fallen flagrante delicto, into the hands 

of an American General ; and the punishment inflicted upon them has if, 

fixed them on high as an example, awful in its exhibition, but we trust, fl, 

auspicious in its results, of that which awaits unauthorized pretenders m 

of European agency, to stimulate, and interpose in wars between the |, 

United States and the Indians, within their control. p ( . 

This exposition of the origin, the causes and the character of the war tr 
with the Seminole Indians and part of the Creeks, combined with M 4 Gre- 

gor's mock patriots and Nicholls' Negroes, which necessarily led our w 

troops into Florida, and gave rise to all those incidents of which Mr. N 

Pizarro so vehemently complains, will, it is hoped, enable you to pre- m 

sent other and sounder views of the subject to his Catholic Majesty's ^ 

government. It will enable you to show that the occupation of Pensa- A\ 
cola and St. Marks was occasioned neither by a spirit of hostility to 
Spain, nor with a view- to extort, prematurely, the province from her 
possession, that it was rendered necessary by the neglect of Spain to 

perform her engagements of restraining the Indians from hostilities » a 
against the United States, and by the culpable countenance, encour- 

agement and assistance given to those Indians in their hostilities, by Cfll 

the Spanish Governor and Commandant at those places. That the t , 

United States has a right to demand, as the President does demand, i , 

of Spain the punishment of those officers for this misconduct; and y, 
he further demands of Spain, a just and reasonable indemnity to 
the United States for the heavy and necessary expenses which the v 



15 



have been compelled to incur, by the failure of Spain to perform her 
engagements, to restrain the Indians, aggravated by this demonstrated 
complicity of her commanding officers with them, in their hostilities 
againsjfc the United States: That the two Englishmen executed by or- 
der of General Jackson w ere not only identified with the savages, with 
whom they were carrying on the war agaiost the United States, but 
that one of them was the mover and fomentor of the war, which, with- 
out his interference and false promises to the Indians of support from 
the British government, never would have happened. ...that the other 
was the instrument of war against Spain as well as the United States, 
commissioned by McGregor, and expedited by Woodbine, upon their 
project of conquering Florida with these Indians and Negroes. That, 
as accomplices of the savages, and sinning against their better know- 
ledge, worse than savages, General Jackson, possessed of their persons 
and the proofs of their guilt, might, by the lawful and ordinary usages 
of war, have hung them both without the formality of a trial : That to 
allow them every possible opportunity of refuting the proofs, or show- 
ing any circumstances in extenuation of their crimes, he gave them the 
benefit of a court martial, of highly respectable officers : That the de- 
fence of one consisted, solely and exclusively of technical cavils at the 
Mature of part of the evidence against him, and the other confessed his 
guilt. 

Finally, that in restoring Pensacola and St. Marks to Spain, the 
President gives the most signal proof of his confidence, that hereafter 
her engagement to restrain, by force, the Indians of Florida from all 
hostilities against the United States, will be effectually fulfilled; that 
there will be no more murders, no more robberies within our borders, 
by savages prowling; along the Spanish line, and seeking shelter within 
it. to display in their villages the scalps of our women and children, 
their victims, and to sell, with shameless effrontry, the plunder from 
our citizens in Spanish forts and cities; that we will hear no more apo- 
logies from Spanish governors and commandants; of their inability to 
perform the duties of their office and the solemn contracts of their coun- 
try....no more excuses for compliances to the savage enemies oi the 
United States from the dread of their attacks upon themselves. ...no 
more harboring of foreign importers, upon conclusion that a strength 
sufficient will be kept in the province to restrain the Indians by force, 
and officers empowered and Instructed to employ it. effectually to main- 
tain the good faith of the nation, by the effective fulfilment of the treaty. 
4[he duty of this government to protect the persons and property of our 
fe^Rpw citizens, on the borders of the United States, is imperative.. ..it 
must be discharged. .^nd if, after all the warning which Spain has had 
....if. after the DrostraTTonToT all her territorial rights and neutral obli- 
gations, by Nicholls and his banditti, during the war, and of all her 
treaty stipulations, by Arbuthnot and Ambrister, abetted by her own 
command uig^iicers, during peace, to the cruel annoyance of the Uni- 
ted State^T.if the necessities of self defence should again compel the 
United StateTto take possession of the Spanish forts and places in Flor- 
ida, declare, with the candor and frankness that becomes us, that ano- 
ther unconditional restoration of them must not be expected ; that even 
the President's confidence in the good faith and ultimate justice of the 



16 



Spanish Government will yield to the painful experience of continua 
disappointment; and that, after unwearied and almost unnumherei 
appeals to them, for the performance of their stipulated duties, in vain 
the United States will be reluctantly compelled to rely for the protec 
tion of their borders, upon themselves alone. 

You are authorized to communicate the whole of this letter, and th« 
accompanying documents, to the Spanish Government. 

I have the honor, &c. 

t ,/ JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. 

The numeral liters and figures in the margin of the above letter re 
fer to documents contained in the appendix, which has been published. 



